Publish Date : 19-Aug-2015
Senator Francis Escudero said on Tuesday he is in support of increased military spending to boost the countrys defense capabilities amid concerns over Chinas continuous military buildup in the disputed West Philippine Sea. Escudero, however, stressed that the government should purchase better and newer military hardware instead of the old and dilapidated second-hand weapons and equipment. If we are going to pour in billions of pesos to improve the Armed Forces of the Philippines, we might as well give our soldiers the best modern and sophisticated equipment we can get, Escudero pointed out.
He noted that the AFP is widely regarded as one of the weakest military forces in Southeast Asia. The veteran lawmaker said it is high time the Philippines invests in reasonably priced brand-new military weapons and equipment, especially those that would improve the countrys maritime defense capability. We should discard the old practice of acquiring military equipment and vehicles that are too old and defective, and no longer useful to our armed forces. Let us not put the lives of our hardworking soldiers in danger, Escudero said.
The least the government can do is to make sure that we provide our military forces with better and serviceable aircraft, naval ships and other equipment, he added. Under the proposed PhP 3.002 trillion national budget for 2016, the Department of National Defense (DND) ranks third among the line agencies with the highest allocation, next to the Department of Education (DepEd) and the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH). The 2016 budget proposal of the DND, which exercises supervision and control over the AFP, is PhP 172 billion. It is PhP 27.5 billion higher than its current budget of PhP 144.5 billion.
On top of this, the government has allocated PhP 75 billion for the first five years of implementation of the 15-Year Revised AFP Modernization Act of 2012. Escudero said the law provides that the modernization program shall consist of capability, material and technology development with the acquisition of new equipment and weapons system and phaseout of uneconomical and obsolete major equipment and weapons system in the AFP inventory. Even as he lauded the current administration for making long-needed investments in the military in recent years, Escudero said more needs to be done before improvements within the AFP can be felt.
Escudero said while the Department of Budget and Management reported that a total of PhP 68 billion has already been spent to modernize the AFP since 1999, the much-needed and long overdue upgrades to the countrys armed forces remain elusive. It is for this reason, he said, why the Senate has initiated a probe on the implementation of the modernization program aimed at upgrading the AFP, including the alleged irregular acquisitions of military equipment and weapons system. The DND recently came under fire for the purchase of 21 refurbished Huey helicopters worth PhP 1.2 billion. There were allegations that the choppers, said to be older than the incumbent senior military officers, cannot be used and have obsolete parts, and that the purchase violated certain provisions of the countrys procurement law.
The big-ticket project was also allegedly tailor-made for a particular supplier in exchange for kickbacks. Escudero said the helicopter deal controversy exposed infirmities in the AFP procurement process, which he branded as too supplier-driven. The AFP Modernization Act, also known as Republic Act No. 7898, became a law in 1995 under the leadership of then President Fidel Ramos, who himself served as AFP chief and DND secretary during the time of President Corazon Aquino.
The law was meant to modernize all branches of the AFP such as the Philippine Air Force, the Philippine Navy and the Philippine Army. It was intended to last for 15 years with an initial budget of PhP 50 billion for the first five years, but the funding was stopped due to the 1997 Asian financial crisis. After the financial crisis, funding for the AFP modernization was halted and later neglected by successive administrations until the law expired in 2010. In 2012, R.A. 7898 was amended by R.A. 10349, or the Revised AFP Modernization Act, which extended the modernization program to another 15 years with an initial budget of PhP 75 billion for the first five years in order to continue upgrading all military branches and boost the countrys defense system.
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